Teachers Jamie Mack and Catherine Haase want their students at Torrington High School to know that what happens in their backyards doesn’t always stay in their backyards. Ground water, aquifers, and waterways here can affect the sea, although the nearest beach on the Sound is some 50 miles away.
Author: Judy Benson
Trumbull High students work to help preserve Long Island Sound
Anna Smith and almost 70 of her classmates are participating in a new project designed to improve ocean literacy and advocate for marine life by helping to preserve the Long Island Sound.
Making Waves: schools set sail with Long Island Sound Schools project
Learn how Mercy University Professor Meghan Marrero’s childhood love of the sea helped pave the way for the creation of the Long Island Sound Schools network with CT Sea Grant Education Coordinator Diana Payne.
Connecticut Sea Grant Arts Support Awards Program
Connecticut Sea Grant, through its Arts Support Awards Program, will award up to $1000 to an artist or group of artists. The winning submission will be selected on the basis of aesthetic quality, relevance to coastal and marine environments and Connecticut Sea Grant themes, as well as its potential impact on the wider public and new audiences. Application deadline: May 20, 2026
Associate Director Nancy Balcom receives national award
Connecticut Sea Grant Associate Director Nancy Balcom received the William Q. Wick Visionary Career Leadership Award from the Sea Grant Extension Assembly, given “in recognition of outstanding career achievement, leadership, vision and contribution to Sea Grant Extension through administration.”
‘Flyway of Life’ film by CTSG-supported artist to be shown
Following two sold-out screenings this past spring in Fairfield and Glastonbury, “Flyway of Life”—an awe-inspiring documentary celebrating the Atlantic Flyway and the incredible migratory journey of North America’s birds—returns to Connecticut with two special events this October.
Two great marine science events offered at Sound School
Registration is open for two workshops in September at The Sound School co-sponsored by Maryland Sea Grant, “Aquaculture in Action,” and “Biofilms, Biodiversity & Microplastics.”
CT, NY Sea Grant funded flounder research makes news
Two CT media outlets featured a current research project titled “Bottoming Out? Testing Hypothesis on Why Long Island Sound Flatfishes Are Disappearing,” funded as part of the 2025-2027 collaborative between the CT and NY Sea Grant programs and the EPA’s Long Island Sound Partnership.
CTSG shellfish training course spotlighted on CT public radio
Connecticut Public Radio broadcast “Aspiring shellfish farmers get a boost from CT training program,” on Sept. 3, 2025, about the oysterman Samuel Tucker and the training he received in the CT Sea Grant aquaculture course.
406 pounds of trash uplifted along with volunteers’ spirits
For Amanda Kostalis of Wallingford, spending a Saturday morning extracting plastic cups, food wrappers and other garbage from the rocks along the New Haven shoreline is a kind of public service therapy. “I try to volunteer as much as I can,” she said. “It helps to combat those feelings of hopelessness.”